Official blog of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Pennsylvania

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Two plus two equals five, war is peace, and....

...undocumented immigrants are trying to vote.

Not to rehash what has already been stated here, but let's rehash what has already been stated here. Cynthia Tucker has a brilliant column from Sunday's Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which appeared in today's (Harrisburg) Patriot News, about the voter ID bill from last week:

Republican leaders have discovered a grave threat to American democracy that most of us apparently had not noticed: Everywhere, in big states and small, red enclaves and blue, bustling metropolises and rural hamlets, impostors are flocking to the polls to vote under false pretenses. Apparently, the nation has been overrun by fake voters.

What else would explain the GOP's insistence on using its power to ram through requirements that voters show government-issued photo IDs at the ballot box?

And Tucker tapped an election academic to back up her point. (Note: Said expert is not a member of Congress.)

"If you are an illegal immigrant, the last thing you want to do is show up at a polling place, ..." said Thomas Patterson, an expert on elections at Harvard's Shorenstein Center. "We have enough trouble getting people to vote when they're eligible. The idea that people are going to stick their necks out and get [a] penalty stretches the imagination."

The citizenry needs to know what powerful politicians are trying to do with their vote. And then vote with a vengeance.